Robotics

Over the last few years, I've watched from afar as Pittsburgh's Remake Learning initiative has blossomed into a resource-rich network. Its 533-member organizations are striving to inspire and equip the next generation of innovators, problem-solvers and critical thinkers through hands-on, relevant learning.

In this guest viewpoint, FIRST President Donald E. Bossi argues that online and blended learning offer tremendous potential for enhancing STEM education and hands-on learning opportunities for all students.

According to a recent study, "intelligent automation" is boosting the relevance of STEM skills as well as soft skills. However, just a few countries are investing in deep changes to school curricula or teacher training that will be useful in preparing future workers. The United States isn't ranked high among them.

Wonder Workshop, provider of educational robots, has launched the Teach Wonder initiative, a new program that leverages nonprofits to give teachers the skills they need to bring coding and robotics into their classrooms.

Students at MIT have designed a robot that can solve a Rubik's Cube in 0.38 seconds, setting a world record. Designed and built by a pair of students using the student-run hackerspace MIT Electronics Research Society, the robot broke the previous world record, set in 2016, of 0.67 seconds.